Crude Halts Decline on Supply Disruptions

Crude is ticking higher after bouncing from a low of 79.15$/bbl yesterday on the back of supply outages and as Saudi Arabia raised crude prices to Asia for March. The rally comes after a week of decline with concern for oil demand. The market continues to balance uncertainty over Chinese demand, Russian supply, and global economic demand growth.

• Brent APR 23 up 1.3% at 82.01$/bbl
• WTI MAR 23 up 1.4% at 75.16$/bbl
• Gasoil FEB 23 up 3.4% at 808.5$/mt
• WTI-Brent up 0.03$/bbl at -6.49$/bbl
• The halt to oil exports from the Kurdish oil field through Turkey, the Ceyhan export terminal in Turkey Supply and Johan Sverdrup phase 1 production due to an electrical power issue are all providing support.
• Crude time spreads are also edging higher with the support from the supply concerns with the prompt spread back up to near the highest since November. The WTI prompt spreads remain in contango suggesting ample short term US crude supplies amid weak demand.
  • Brent APR 23-MAY 23 up 0.04$/bbl at 0.32$/bbl
  • Brent JUN 23-DEC 23 up 0.17$/bbl at 2.49$/bbl
• Diesel and gasoline markets are slightly stronger today but diesel remains in a downward trend driven by weak demand and efforts by Russia to maintain product outputs despite new EU and G7 sanctions. The Gasoil prompt spread has fallen from a high of 29.5$/mt on 23 Jan down to just 4.75$/mt today and the US diesel crack spread has declined from around 64.5$/bbl to 42.2$/bbl since 20 Jan.
  • US gasoline crack up 0.4$/bbl at 25.97$/bbl
  • US ULSD crack up 0.3$/bbl at 42.34$/bbl